Mount Rainier —The Parkby Don H. Meredith
In 1966, I was employed as a seasonal Fire Control Aide, which was really an apprentice ranger position. While in training for our duties at Longmire, I met Tim Hall and we became fast friends. He and I ended up on the Sunrise side of the mountain. This turned out to be an ideal posting for me because Sunrise was off the well-beaten tourist path. Sunrise was also a beautiful part of the park, being near timberline with magnificent views of the mountain and easy access to many of the nearby wilderness trails. Tim and I shared the duty of manning the Mount Fremont Fire Lookout Tower. He spent five days a week at the tower and I spent two, covering his days off. When not in the tower, I assisted the rangers at Sunrise.
In 1967, I was hired as a Seasonal Park Ranger, where I served at Lake James, a backcountry posting in the the northeastern portion of the park. In 1968, I served as a ranger at Sunrise. In 1969, I took part-time duties as a ranger at Sunrise, while I conducted a graduate study in alpine ecology in Huckleberry Park, just north of Sunrise. As part of my ranger duties that year, I served as the climbing ranger at Camp Schurman on weekends. The following photographs are taken from all four years.
Navigating the Slides in Lightbox
- When you click the "Launch gallery" link below, the first photo will be loaded into a window (lightbox) floating above this page.
- Roll your mouse over the photo and the caption will appear.
- Roll your mouse to the right and the "Next" button will appear (or press N on keyboard).
- In the next photos, roll your mouse to the left and the "Prev" button will appear (or press P).
- To close the lightbox either click outside the box or click the "Close X" button in the caption.
